1. Lost Pigeon Studios
Beta Release Report
Progress Overview
The beta release of Fenestra demonstrated a significant amount of new game
content, particularly in level design and art assets. After refining the level editor for alpha
release, we were able to rapidly generate, edit, and fine-tune new levels for this release.
We added keys and unlock-able doors to increase our puzzle possibilities and
implemented several graphical updates such as glowing objects and falling leaves. We
also included many new art assets which help to distinguish the two in-game worlds and
bring the game visuals much nearer to our vision for the final release.
Tasks Accomplished
Chuck Moyes (Grand Supreme Programming Director in Chief)
Responsible primarily for new visual effects and debugging of the game engine and editor
- Gaussian blur effect for transcendent objects (10 hours)
- Falling leaves to complement rain effect (5 hours)
- Level editor bug correction (3 hours)
- Main menu / game state serialization (2 hours)
John Oliver (High Regal Master of Programming)
Responsible for level design and narrative development
- Lever mechanics with scripting (10 hours)
- Tutorial and learning progression design (2 hours)
- Puzzle and tutorial level design and construction (12 hours)
- Main menu / game state serialization (2 hours)
Crystal Ngai (Premier Lead Executive Director of Art)
Responsible for new art assets and visual direction
- Level content art (platforms, spikes, et cetera) (22 hours)
2. - Game manual cover and page art (12 hours)
Sixing Chen (Sovereign Noble Lord of Music)
Responsible for new music and sound assets
- New sound effects for buttons, levers, dying, jumping, breaking boxes (10 hours)
- Development and analysis of game music in context of theme (10 hours)
Matt Blair (Lead Leader of Leadership and Arbiter of Ridiculous Titles)
Responsible for level design, quality assurance, and time management
- Level design, construction, and testing (14 hours)
- Game narrative writing (4 hours)
- Carry-able item mechanics (4 hours)
- Beta presentation slideshow (2 hours)
Productivity Assessment
Our team has generally been highly productive in working towards beta release.
The addition of new level artwork gave a much better vision of the final product and
instilled a great deal of enthusiasm and pride in our current progress.
That being said, we will need a slightly more focused approach as we work on
the final release. Our team tends to become focused on non-critical technical or
graphical issues when we really need to be devoting our time to content generation
and the player experience.
Goals for Final Release
Development of our final release will focus on development of game content, logical
gameplay progression and cohesion, and user experience. We need to put a great deal of
work into developing new, fun puzzles and developing the game story in a manner that
entices players without overly confusing them.
3. Final Release Test for Acceptance
The final release will be successful if the player can run a distributed copy of the
game, play a new or saved game from the main menu, and finish a ‘complete’ set of
puzzles while optionally following the narrative. By ‘complete’, I mean that the puzzles
challenge the player to understand every aspect of the core game mechanic. There
should be no noticeable bugs in programming or level layout in the final release.
Risk Assessment
As mentioned earlier, there is a risk of our team becoming distracted from
content generation by technical or graphical issues. Also, it may be more difficult than
anticipated to construct levels that can’t become “unsolvable”. We do not intend to
create a level reset feature, but we will if it becomes necessary.
Tasks for Final Release
Chuck Moyes (Grand Supreme Programming Director in Chief)
Responsible for final programming tweaks and refinements
- Main menu / game state serialization and deserialization (6 hours)
- In-game options menu (6 hours)
- Resolving minor level editor usability issues (6 hours)
- Puzzle and level design testing (2 hours)
John Oliver (High Regal Master of Programming)
Responsible for level design and minor art assets
- Level/puzzle design and construction (16 hours)
- Narrative development and implementation (6 hours)
Crystal Ngai (Premier Lead Executive Director of Art)
Responsible for new art assets and game world development
- Final art for in-game objects (boxes, buttons, doors, et cetera) (20 hours)
- Standing sprites for both appearances of protagonist (6 hours)
4. - Climbing, jumping sprites for protagonist (8 hours)
- Revision of existing non-sprite art (6 hours)
Sixing Chen (Sovereign Noble Lord of Music)
Responsible for development and integration of music and sound assets
- Composition of new gameplay music tracks (16 hours)
- Sound effect selection, recording, and timing (4 hours)
Matt Blair (Lead Leader of Leadership and Arbiter of Ridiculous Titles)
Responsible for level design, story development, and organization
- Level design, construction and testing (16 hours)
- Narrative writing and implementation (8 hours)
- Level testing and quality assurance (4 hours)